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FALL 2020 Volume 7 Issue 1 FALL 2020 volume 7 issue 1 3 FROM RUTHERFORD HALL Dr. Barry J. York 4 BE HOLY FOR I AM HOLY: THE DOCTRINE OF SANCTIFICATION IN LEVITICUS 20:7-8 Dr. C. J. Williams 10 JOHN OWEN: PERSEVERANCE AND MORTIFICATION IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE Dr. Richard C. Gamble 18 WARFIELD ON SANCTIFICATION AND ESCHATOLOGY Dr. Jeffrey A. Stivason 27 HOW SANCTIFICATION WORKS: THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY AND PROGRESSIVE SANCTIFICATION Rev. Keith A. Evans 37 THE RIGHT CHANNEL OF NEW OBEDIENCE: SANCTIFICATION IN THE SUM OF SAVING KNOWLEDGE Dr. David G. Whitla 51 KEEpiNG NOTHING BACK WHICH MAY PROMOTE HOLY ENDS: WESTMINSTER ON PREACHING AND SANCTIFICATION Dr. Barry J. York STUDY UNDER PASTORS The theological journal of the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary Description Reformed Presbyterian Theological Journal is the online theological journal of the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Reformed Presbyterian Theological Journal is provided freely by RPTS f aculty and other scholars to encourage the theological growth of the church in the historic, creedal, Reformed faith. Reformed Presbyterian Theological Journal is published biannually online at the RPTS w ebsite in html a nd pdf. Readers are free to use the journal and circulate articles in written, visual, or digital form, but we respectfully request that the content be unaltered and the source be acknowledged by the following statement. “Used by permission. Article first appeared in Reformed Presbyterian Theological Journal, the online theological journal of the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary (rpts.edu).” e d i t o r s General Editor: Assistant Editor: Contributing Editors: Barry York Robert Kelbe Keith Evans David Whitla [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] a r t i c l e s The Editorial Team of Reformed Presbyterian Theological Journal selects individuals to contribute articles and does not receive unsolicited works. When a request for a submission has been made and accepted, articles should generally be about 3,000 to 6,000 words in length and should be submitted to the General Editor. Articles should use clear, concise English, following The sbl H andbook of Style (esp. for abbreviations), supplemented by The Chicago Manual of Style. They should consistently use either UK o r USA s pelling and punctuation, and they should be submitted electronically as an email attachment using Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx extensions). issn 2 377-7680 / Reformed Presbyterian Theological Journal 7 .1 (Fall 2020) From Rutherford Hall Dr. Barry J. York President and Professor of Pastoral Theology and Homiletics Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary On the second floor of Rutherford Hall here at Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary, you can find our Rare Books Room. As you walk in, you are hit with the elegance of the Delft tile fireplace, the beautiful wood trim and bookcases, and the musty air that only historical books can produce. The oldest book in our collection is a Chaldean grammar dating from 1527—making it almost 500 year old! The thematic cover of the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Journal is a picture of books found in the Rare Books Room collection. Beyond housing the books that scholars love to use in their research, our Rare Books Room is a visible reminder. Because our God does not change, neither do our doctrines. Though the truths of God's Word are clarified and further insight given by His Spirit from one generation to the next, the eternal truths of the Scriptures are as constant as the Lord who gave them to us. Because of our commitment to the theological boundaries we have inherited from our forefathers, the faculty of RPTS enjoys preparing for our Westminster Conference each year. Given an annual theme, our professors then dig into the writings of those who came before us on a given topic fitted to that theme and share their findings in lectures. Those lectures eventually turn into the articles that are published in this journal. This year's theme was "Further Sanctified: Really and Personally." On the topic of sanctification, the professors presented their work from such areas as Old Testament studies, historical theological developments, and practical theological applications to counseling and preaching. I trust that, as you read these articles or go and listen to the lectures that were given, you will experience in part the answer to our Lord's high priestly prayer. "Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth" (John 17:17, ESV). Thank you for reading! 3 / Reformed Presbyterian Theological Journal 7 .1 (Fall 2020) Be Holy For I Am Holy: The Doctrine of Sanctification in Leviticus 20:7-8 Dr. Clayton J. Williams Professor of Old Testament Studies Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am the LORD your God. And you shall keep My statutes and perform them; I am the LORD who sanctifies you. Leviticus 20:7-8 (NKJV) Introduction John Owen said, “Among all the glorious works of God, next unto that of redemption by Christ Jesus, my soul doth most admire this of the Spirit in preserving the seed and principle of holiness in us, as a spark of living fire in the midst of the ocean.” 1 What child of God cannot share in Owen’s praise of this sovereign work of sanctification? So glorious is this work of God ,( Y HWH Mĕqaddišĕkem) ְיהָ ֖וה ְמ ַק ִדּ ְשׁ ֶֽכם that He revealed Himself to His people by the divine name “The LORD who Sanctifies You.” 2 This paper will explore the meaning of this divine name, and the “spark of living fire” that is His work of sanctification, primarily as it is expressed in Leviticus 20. “Be holy, for I am holy” is the recurring phrase and theme of the Book of Leviticus.3 The apostle Peter repeats it in 1 Peter 1:16, reminding us that this is no Old Testament ceremonial theme that is passing away, but rather an abiding principle of the Covenant of Grace for all time. The imperative “be holy” is based on the divine indicative, “I am holy,” teaching us by a simple equation that it is God’s will for us to be like Him in holiness. But before we can grasp the imperative, we must first understand the indicative. What does it mean that our God is holy? The Divine Indicative Much has been written on this exalted theme, but in its most basic sense, the holiness of God denotes His transcendent and complete distinction from His creatures and His creation. Some theologians have called this His “majestic holiness.”4 In a narrower sense, Scripture also speaks of God’s holiness as His moral perfection and separation from all that is evil. We might call this 1 John Owen, T he Works of John Owen , vol. 3, (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1965), 397. 2 Ex. 31:13; Lev. 20:8; Ezek. 20:12. 3 Lev. 11:44, 11:45, 19:2, 20:7, 20:26, 21:8. 4 Louis Berkhof, S ystematic Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993), 73. 4 / Reformed Presbyterian Theological Journal 7 .1 (Fall 2020) His “ethical holiness,” which Louis Berkhof defines as “that perfection of God, in virtue of which He eternally wills and maintains His own moral excellence, abhors sin, and demands purity in His moral creatures.”5 With that last phrase, that God “demands purity in His moral creatures,” we move from the indicative to the imperative. The fact of God’s holiness becomes an imperative for His people who are saved by grace to reflect His image. As mere men we cannot possibly be holy in the precise way that our God is holy, but our calling to holiness is meant to reflect as humans both aspects of God’s holiness as defined above. We are separated from the world and unto God our Savior, which is a definitive act of God’s grace. More particularly, we are to be separated from sin and evil, which is a progressive work of God’s grace. It is this progressive work of God’s grace that the Westminster Shorter Catechism focuses upon in Question 35: “What is sanctification? Answer: Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.” By saying that it is a “work of God’s free grace,” the catechism acknowledges that sanctification is monergistic, that is, entirely a work of God. Nevertheless, by saying that “we are enabled more and more to die unto sin,” the catechism likewise acknowledges that we are not passive in our sanctification. The renewed nature of the believer willingly and actively pursues that holiness being wrought by God within us. When it comes to sanctification, there is no contradiction between God’s grace and our duty, and this is the mysterious and wondrous truth that we will now see emerge from our text in Leviticus 20. Chapters 20-22 of Leviticus focus on God’s work of sanctification. Our passage, Leviticus 20:7-8, is the first of seven successive references to the God who sanctifies. These seven verses take this theme and appear to place it in a chiastic structure as seen below.6 The first and last references refer to God sanctifying His people (Lev. 20:8, 22:32). The second, third, fifth and sixth references refer to God sanctifying the priests (Lev. 21:8, 21:15; 22:9, 22:16). The fourth and central reference refers to the sanctity of the altar and sanctuary (Lev. 21:23), thereby centering this theme of God sanctifying His people upon the presence of God Himself.
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